Creative Commons

Over at Fr. Z’s blog there an excellent post concerning the closing of churches. It seems that Saint Ann Church in Buffalo was slated for closing. The building needed $12 million in repairs and the local bishop made the decision to tear it down. The parishioners appealed the decision to Rome and the Vatican’s response was “Not so fast. The needed repairs aren’t enough of a reason to close the place.” Clearly this decision to overrule the local ordinary will have an impact on all potential church closings.

I find this decision very interesting because my current assignment, Saint John Nepomuk Chapel in Saint Louis, currently celebrating our 160th anniversary, was once on the closing list, but was spared, primarily because of its historical significance. Saint John’s was founded by Bohemian immigrants in 1854. It was the first Czech Roman Catholic church in the New World.

Urban flight and the building of not one, but two interstate highways in the middle of the neighborhood meant that thousands of Czech immigrants moved out of the area. Our church, which was once one of the largest in the Archdiocese now has just over 100 registered families. On a good weekend we may have 100 people attending our two masses.

In 2008, rather than close the church, Saint John’s was downgraded from a parish to a chapel. We have no geographical boundaries so our membership comes from all over the Saint Louis area. The pastor at the time became a chaplain and when he retired the decision was made to put a deacon in charge. I am the second deacon to hold that position. One important part of my job is to get priests to celebrate the two weekend masses, a task that seems to be getting more difficult every week.

Another part of the job is to find the money to keep things going. Our current church building was built in 1897 after a tornado destroyed the previous structure. Our church is one of the most beautiful in the Archdiocese. Thankfully our current Archbishop, Robert Carlson, recognizes the value of the older churches (of which Saint Louis has many) and doesn’t seem inclined to close any of them. The model of deacon as director will, no doubt, be adopted at other churches as the number of priests declines.

Father Z ends his post by saying, ”

“If you want something to happen, you have to work for it and pay for it.

Free exercise of religion isn’t free. We have bills to pay. If YOU want something – A, B, C… whatever – and you are unwilling to pitch in and put sweat or money or both into it, you will lose it.”

Ah, there’s the rub. Many of our members are seniors living on fixed incomes. Their ability to supply “sweat or money” ain’t what it used to be. It’s a well-known fact, based on Pereto’s principal, that 20% of the people contribute 80% of the work and 80% of the money. We rely on existing investments and the revenue from weddings and fund raisers to pick up the slack. But, as we draw down the investment cash we put a limit on the number of years we can survive. Plus our small pool of workers can only cook so much goulash before they get worn out. Its also worth noting that some of our best workers have gone on to their reward in the last few years, a trend that will also continue.

So, the obvious answer is to evangelize–get more members. But there are some big obstacles to overcome. Ethnic churches seem to be declining everywhere. In the early 20th century Saint Louis was made up of large ethnic communities with ethnic churches and schools. A young Czech girl was likely to marry a Czech young man. Ditto for the Irish, the Germans, the Italians and other ethnic groups. Following World War II, when young men returned from the service (God bless them!) they began settling in the suburbs. While they may have continued to attend their “home” church for a while, they sent their kids to neighborhood schools where they met other young people of other nationalities. Now a Czech girl was likely to marry an Italian boy. With each new generation their ethnicity was weakened. Driving all the way downtown to attend a Czech church wasn’t that important to them.

So why not evangelize in the neighborhood? That seems like a logical solution. But again, nothing is ever simple. Our neighborhood, once known as “Bohemian Hill” is now called Soulard. It’s an urban area that has been rescued from decline and there are a lot of houses that have been renovated and there are also a number of condos. There are also a lot of bars and restaurants. When you mention “Soulard” to most Saint Louisans the first thing they think of is Mardi Gras. Soulard holds the second biggest Mardi Gras celebration in the country. Frankly the young people who are moving into the area aren’t coming so they can be close to a church, even though there are five Catholic churches in the area. The church-going Catholic has a lot of choices. Meanwhile the neighborhood is crowded most weekend nights with partiers.

So, what’s the answer? I wish I knew. If the Vatican is discouraging the closing of churches, more city parishes are going to find themselves in the same situation. I’m hoping that some readers will have experience with successful turnarounds. If you have, I’d love to hear from you. What works? What doesn’t? How do we use our resources to spread the faith and to save these beautiful churches? I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

3 Responses

It’s odd that the Vatican in that one case said no but there must be thousands of closings worldwide that proceed. The Mass has to become more interactive. At the homily the priest instead of a homily should ask for people to raise their hand if any family member is out of work. Then he asks the name of the unemployed…Joseph. ” Let’s all pray each night this week at your supper times that Joseph gets work”.
” Does anyone need a babysitter this week”. Yes. ” Are any girls available?” Yes…see that person after Mass. Etc. The Mass should. PARTLY be community like the Last Supper was….or you are going to have 1% of the Church who enjoy no community attending and thinking they are the remnant and secretly delighting that they are the last 8 on the ark. Massive changes must come and not on morals but on interactions. The read Mass worked for two millenia when people had community on their bloc or in family. Now they don’t know their neighbors. I had three Catholic neighbors turn me down when I needed a battery jump and two were Mass going. Now people are isolated and the read Mass isolates them further because as structured, it says to the new isolato….listen to what we say and keep quiet because we have no interest in your life actually.

Bill, thanks for your comments. I agree that we must do more to be inclusive and inviting. However, there are certain rubrics we must follow in the mass. The time following the readings is set aside for comments relating to the readings for the day. Most of us could do more to involve our listeners in the mass, but your suggestion of calling out individuals for prayer or for advertising baby sitting services would be more appropriate at other times.

This isn’t a simple issue. Somewhere between reading a prepared homily and a protestant-type question and answer session there is a solution.

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